The Death Hand II
The Death Hand II was an ongoing storyline, that started with The Death Hand I, taking place a year after the fall of the Galactic Republic and directly after the events of the first series. It was written by Haou1987 and would contain 8 episodes. Story Exploring the Caves Bria Tharen was next to the Starscream, after just being left there by Jada Bariss. As she waited for her newest friend to return, she sought to explore the area and set up camp. She comes across an old pre-Clone Wars era Republic diplomatic Outpost named Mon Illan and sets up a beacon here so that Jada can find her when she gets back. In the meantime, Jada is investigating the cave that was also the entrance to the Gathering. Meditating there, she was called upon by the spirit that once helped her within the Temple of the Whills on Jedha, the old Grand Master of the Jedi Order Yoda. Yoda explains to her how this is the most important step of the young mind to transcend to become a Jedi, the forging of a new lightsaber. Jada is pointed towards a frozen waterfall, which when the first light breaks through, gives her a chance to enter the trial. Remembering her own Gathering trial. she fears the Crystal Cave as she barely made it out last time. She starts to meditate, focusing on the Force, feeling both the Light and the Dark Side flow through Ilum, a planet that has a rich history in the Force and in the Republic and Empire. Finally she awakens from her meditation when the first light breaks through and the frozen waterfall is opened. Taking a deep breath she steps through, but the voice of Yoda tells her she needs to let go of her past, indicating she needs to leave her lightsaber behind. As she enters the Crystal Cave, stones collapse on top of the lightsaber destroying it. Uncertain of what awaits her, Jada enters the darkness of the Crystal Cave. As Jada undergoes her trial, Bria Tharen encounters an ancient library with texts about the ancient civilization of Ilum and its connection to the Jedi Order, when she is knocked out from behind by a shadowy figure. The True Trial The darkness faced Jada Bariss within the Crystal Cave on Ilum. A single light was seen in the distance and Jada, despite better judgment, gets closer and follows it. The voice of Yoda echoed after her, telling her of her purpose within the cave. While she follows the light she comes across scenes of ruptured crystals and when she touches a few of them she gets a Force Vision from the last generation of Padawans that ever visited this cave for the Gathering. The visions she experiences center around three specific Padawans, Gungi, Zatt and Katooni. When Jada lingers to long around the final crystal where Gungi recieved his, the ground begins to collapse and Jada has to run for her life to save her own. When she brings herself to safety, she finds herself face to face with not one but two concealed Kyber Crystals that call out to her. Through meditation she relied on the forces of nature to break apart the ice encasing the two crystals. She then makes her way back to the entrance of the trial, when she realizes the time is getting nearer to its end. She manages to escape the trial cavern just in time before the waterfall froze over again. Encountering Yoda's vision again, she reveals she possesses the two crystals and Yoda says its her first step in a new future. After Yoda's appirtion disappears after that, Jada gains another vision about Bria being in danger and she heads off towards the landing platform. Bria Tharen awakens in an old and ancient ship named the Crucible, where it is revealed that she was knocked out by Professor Huyang, an Archtitect Droid and the lightsaber master of The Gathering trial, and it is also revealed that the three Jedi, Gungi, Zatt and Katooni survived Order 66 and protect Huyang and the Crucible. My Future Bria Tharen is surrounded by the three former Jedi Padawan and Professor Huyang. They question her on why she is here and how she found them. Refusing to reveal her companion, she keeps her mouth shut. On the outside, Jada has appeared close to the Crucible and gets caught by a cambot. She recognizes the ship from her own Gathering trial. Her appearance however triggers an alarm inside the Crucible and Gungi and Zatt exit the ship. They encounter Jada and do not recognize her, demanding to know what she is doing here. Ordering them to release Bria to her, Jada engages Gungi and Zatt in battle, armed only with the Force. She is able to hold them both off and the battle ends when Katooni comes out and does recognize Jada, who in return also happily reunites with Katooni. Back aboard the Crucible, they reminscence about their survival of Order 66, where Katooni reveals she was with her master Stass Allie on Saleucami when her master was shot down by her Clone Troopers on patrol. Gungi and Zatt revealed they were within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when Order 66 was issued and Darth Vader attacked the temple with the 501st Legion. Zatt reveals they lost many fellow Jedi Padawan that day, including their friends Petro, Ganodi and Byph, the three others that were part of the last group that did the Gathering trial. They barely escaped the Temple and were able to stow away on a ride off world. Katooni reveals she was the one who found them after securing the Crucible and ever since then they were hiding out on Ilum. Jada reveals she has succesfully completed the Gathering trial again and reveals the two Kyber Crystals she recieved. Professor Huyang offers her his help in building vessels for the crystals, which she accepts. As Jada and Huyang go to a seperate section of the ship, Gungi apologizes to Bria for their treatment of hers. Bria then notes that a meteor shower is passing by and Katooni tells them they are forced to power down the ship during meteor showers as the ship is exposed. While they do this, what they don't know is that within that meteor shower was a Tactical Infiltration Pod, revealing there to be a E-XD Infiltrator Droid named EXD-1 within. He awakens, having been given a set of coordinates and releases a couple of MCR-80 Viper Probe Droids to seek the area. The Force Weapon EXD-1 made its first survey round, finding nothing in particular, sending this information back to the mothership, the Vextra, a Venator-class Star Destroyer currently under command of Captain Firmus Piett, who informs rookie ISB Officer Kallus to pass the first results of all E-XD Infiltrator Droids to Agent Streeve. In the meantime on Ilum, Jada is helped by Katooni and Professor Huyang to built her two new weapons, housing the Kyber Crystals she recieved from the Gathering trial. Huyang gives a brief history about how the weapon is an extension of its user and Jada chooses a lightsaber design that can connect when needed. She begins assembling it through the force. As she does that, Bria Tharen, Gungi and Zatt have taken three of the speeders that were aboard the Crucible and were doing a scouting mission. They find the remains of an old Jedi Temple on Ilum. Before deciding it was not worth the risk of getting caved in inside, Bria noticed the odd Church of the Force markings on its entrance, leading her to believe that the Church might have had a presence here. They return towards the Crucible, but do not notice that they picked up the two patrolling MCR-80 Viper Probe Droids. They stealthily follow the group and alert EXD-1 to its location. In the meantime Jada is building her lightsabers through the Force, carefully assembling each part of it into a whole thing, but notices a disturbance in the Force while she is doing it. Fearing it might be the Empire, she strolls outside with Katooni and takes a fourth speeder and heads towards Gungi's group. While at first she notices nothing, Jada cuts down one of the Probe Droids immediately after making its presence known and they are heading back in full force, knowing that its only a matter of time before the Empire finds them. EXD-1 finds the cut down probe droid, searches its memories and returns to its Tactical Infiltration Pod, alerting Officer Kallus with the data, who in turn sends it to Agent Streeve. Realizing its the same Jedi they encountered on Jedha, Darth Sidious orders him to head to Ilum and take her out with the help of his newest Dark Side Adept, a fully healed and Dark Side embraced Tau Pei. Journey to the Force Forge Professor Huyang greeted Jada Bariss and the rest of the group as they returned from the Jedi Temple. Jada orders them to all go inside as the Galactic Empire most likely will be arriving soon. They lock down the ship, but Zatt notices that the scanners have picked up the Vextra to have moved into orbit. Initially shutting down the entire ship, the first scans of the Vextra pass over as if nothing happened, but then EXD-1 appears not sighted by them and attaches itself to the belly of the ship and initiates its self destruct, effectively shutting down any kind of protection they had from the scanners. Officer Kallus and Captain Piett pick up on this and order a squad of Stormtroopers to investigate the area. Jada and Bria now realize they have no choice but to flee and kickstart the Crucible. This however attracts the Vextra which rains down a bombardment from orbit. Already hampering with the destruction of the belly of the ship, they can barely stay in the air and when the Vextra launches its V-Wing Starfighters to shoot it down, they are out of time. The ship manages to stay intact but they can't get anywhere in it. They take the speeders and Katooni and Jada decide to take a different route to the old Jedi Temple, where they believe is the safest to stay now hidden from the Imperials. As they flee from the V-Wings, Jada is tormented by Force Visions of her newfound friends dieing at the hands of the Imperials and one person clearly shown, Tau Pei. She can feel his presence and fears they are already to late. Succesfully destroying the three V-Wings that followed them, Jada and Katooni hide out in a near cave, when they notice three more Imperial-class Star Destroyers have appeared in orbit. Agent Streeve orders his troops to land on Ilum with the TIE Landers to root out the Jedi and the smuggler. Gungi, Zatt, Bria and Huyang manage to get to the entrance of the Jedi Temple, but it is barely stable. They manage to stabilize it somewhat with the Force and they get in. Within the Temple however they face total darkness and Gungi attempted to reach out to Jada through the Force, but it is revealed that something is blocking his senses within the Temple. Jada and Katooni also attempt to locate them through the Force but likewise are unable too. They decide to make their way to the Temple as well and while they do that Jada notices a Lambda-class Transport arriving on Ilum, but can't make out who is in it. As is later revealed, Tau Pei has arrived on the planet. A Master of a Different Level Squad Commander TK-319 informs Tau Pei, they found the Starscream and have identifed it as being the vessel of Bria Tharen. Tau Pei orders the ship destroyed, after which TK-319 orders a bombing run of the ship by TIE Bombers, destroying it completedly. He then orders the Crucible to be salvaged and brought aboard the Consecutor and then contacts Agent Streeve that they are indeed dealing with Jada Bariss. Within the hidden Jedi Temple, Bria and the others attempt to make their way through the darkness, while Gungi keeps attempting to reach out to Jada and Katooni. As they head in further they come into what seems like an old Jedi Meditation Chamber and Gungi and Zatt realize they need to focus their use of the Force on the Temple itself to lift the darkness. When they do, they lift the darkness indeed and Gungi reaches out to Jada and Katooni, this time more succesfully. Jada and Katooni head over to a different entrance, when they realize the main entrance is being watched by MCR-80 Viper Probe Droids, a hidden entrance the Galactic Empire conveniently overlooked. Jada and Katooni meet with the others and report the destruction of the Starscream to Bria, while Huyang is more worried about the Crucible as there is very valuable information on the Jedi in there. Jada fears that to save the Crucible it is already to late and that they need to move against Tau Pei if they want to make a flight of this planet. Zatt and Katooni seem scared by the prospect of fighting the Dark Side Adept, but Jada implies this is the only way to be able to get off Ilum. They decide the best way to give them some kind of edge over Tau Pei is to lead him into the Jedi Temple. Bria decides to go work on a way to contact her contacts within the Organa Initiative. As they open up the Temple to set the bait, Jada and Huyang notice the Crucible being hauled to the Consecutor. Aboard the Consecutor, Agent Streeve informs Emperor Palpatine that they have captured the Crucible and Sidious orders them to transport it as soon as possible to Coruscant. As Tau Pei awaits the return of the Probe Droids, he notices Jada in the distance and takes a speeder to head after her. The Chase of Faith Tau Pei orders TK-319 to start skimming the surrounding areas for the remaining members of the group as well as secure the Ancient Library of Mon Illan. He then personally took a speeder towards where he sighted Jada Bariss. Here he was ambushed by Gungi and Zatt, who barely survive the initial lightsaber fight with him, with Tau Pei destroying Zatt's speeder but also burns his leg. Gungi and Zatt are saved by Jada as she intervenes and Tau Pei chases her down. Stormtroopers send by TK-319 join in on the chase and they get picked off one by one by Bria Tharen through a sniper rifle or by Katooni using the Force to collapse parts of cliffs on them. Tau Pei is rerouted from the approach of Jada, thanks to Gungi and Zatt, who managed to levitate the boulders into his way. Tau Pei once again engages them, but thanks to intervention by Bria and Huyang they escape once again. They lure him into the small hallway of the Temple, where they unwittingly activate dormant ancient ancient battle droids that combat both the former Jedi and Tau Pei. The group of former Jedi sneak away to the more inner sanctums. Here in the circular chamber that once was the former Jedi Council chamber, Jada awaits Tau Pei, telling him this ends here and now. Agreeing, they both charge at each other. In the meantime, Bria manages to make contact with the headquarters of the Organa Initiative, alerting them to their location and that they need extraction. Captain Antilles promises her they are on their way. In the temple, Zatt, Gungi and Katooni join in on the fight, and while he initially is taken by surprise, Tau Pei begins fighting back and knocks out Gungi and Katooni pretty fast. Zatt and Jada are able to hold him at bay, but after knocking Jada aside and disarming Zatt, Tau Pei mercilessly kills Zatt. Confronted by losing one of her newfound friends, Jada taps deep into the Force, going into a Force Rage, greatly augmenting her power but also having her balance on the line between Light and Dark. She then prepares to engage Tau Pei to avenge her fallen friend. Final Fall Engulfed with the powers of the Force Rage, Jada engages Tau Pei furiously. Bria Tharen and Professor Huyang arrive within the circular chamber, finding the dead body of Zatt and the unconscious Gungi and Katooni. Bria attempts to help out Jada by shooting at Tau Pei, but one of the deflected shots by the Dark Side Adept collapses one of the structural important pieces of the Jedi Temple. Jada forms a shield of energy around her by using the Force from within the Temple. While Jada is fighting Tau Pei, Bria and Huyang attempt to drag Gungi and Katooni away from the battle. They succeed and return for the fallen Zatt. Tau Pei further destabilizes the circular chamber's supports, but this gives Jada the edge and she drives both her lightsabers through his chest. While severly damaging him, Tau Pei can still go on. Jada follows up by slashing his legs away one by one, but at one moment she did not pay attention, he cut her across the chest. The temple chamber begins collapsing and Bria re-enters attempting to help Jada out, but before it can be done, Jada pushes her out of the way, collapsing the entrance. She then continues to decapacitate Tau Pei, finally killing him, before succumbing all alone to her own wounds. Distraught by the loss of their best friend and mentor, Bria directs the group, with Huyang carrying the dead body of Zatt. They find a makeshift shuttlepad of the Empire, where they overtake the Stormtroopers stationed there and steal the Lambda-class Transport. They make their way into space where their escape is almost succesfull until its noticed by Agent Streeve who sends a fighter squadron of V-Wings after them. Thanks to intervention of the Tantive III who dropped out of hyperspace along with a squadron of requisitioned ARC-170 Starfighters. They attach themselves to the Tantive III and jump into Hyperspace. In the aftermath, Darth Sidious orders Agent Streeve to bomb the Jedi Temple on Ilum, decimating it completedly and TK-319 oversees the transport of all sensitive material and equipment from the Ancient Library of Mon Illan to the Consecutor. Arriving on Alderaan, Senator Bail Organa agrees to give Zatt a Jedi funeral along with a meorial for Jada. Its being attended by all of their friends, including Captain Antilles and Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan, carrying a very young Leia Organa in her arms. As in memory, Jada and Zatt live on, Bria and the others are welcomed to the Organa Initiative, who are hellbound on fighting the Galactic Empire. Series I - II - III